Not only through the Eyes
by Kayrin
Summary: Hitomi thought she was finally somewhat accostumed to life in Fanelia, she tought her visions were becoming less draining. She didn't know how wrong she was until it was too late...after she had to make a very difficult decision.


Hello everyone, this is my first escaflowne fanfiction…I guess you will be able to tell. Anyway, a few things to know before reading:

1. Things are a bit different here. Hitomi comes to know Allen after a year she arrives in Fanelia and you'll see how. She's friends with Merle just like in the anime.

2. She and Van are good friends and she helps him in the war thanks to her powers.(look point 6)

3. Fanelia was NOT destroyed. Therefore Van is still king and very busy.

4. Allen is in Fanelia to help the generals after Balgus' death in war.

5. Hitomi has been in Fanelia for three years now and HASN'T met personally with Folken, Dilandau or any of the Dragon Slayers. They are just two of the most important enemy commanders that are said to live in the floating fortress Vione that is sometimes seen during battles.

6. Millerna comes by in Fanelia every now and then as 'ambassador', or so she says.

7. Hitomi has become a powerful clairvoyant since she first arrived on Gaea. Whatever she touches barehanded she gets a vision from.

8. Celena and Dilandau are two different people

This should be all. I'll maybe add a few things as the chapters go by but I hope I won't have to. Lol And now I'll let you read. Writing this I listened to: The 'Escaflowne Theme Song Collection' - 'Secrets' walk' (it's a whole CD) by 'Tori Amos'

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**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Tenku no Escaflowne.

**Not only through the Eyes**

**I. To Lie **

_ She was running so fast her legs were hurting yet she wasn't supposed to stop. Gods knew how she wanted to, let herself be captured and loose her mind once more… But unfortunately it could non be so, she had duties and she had friends to whom she had given her word, her protection. She could not betray them so easily. She wasn't going to just forget the people that had welcomed her into this world and had looked after her just because she liked fighting. And so she continued running until she saw the castle of Fanelia in the distance. The building brought memories to her mind; ones that made her feel even guiltier. She watched behind her, the Dragon Slayers were near; she could feel them like a presence on her skin. Watching behind she saw Gatti's guymelef appear above the trees. She had been able to evade them for some time running in the forest, but now she was at its limits. She had a vast field to pass. It was going to be the longest sprint in her life. A couple other guymelefs had arrived, Chesta and Miguel she though. It was now or never, before the whole division arrived. She watched ahead of her and prepared. She took a breath and started running again. She was running like when she ran the hundred-meter sprint; only difference was that she had to run a mile._

_As soon as she left the under bush the Dragon Slayers spotted her and were after her, trying to get her back with their guymelef's crima claws. Every time they tried she jumped and soon she was nearing Fanelia's front gate. In the distance she saw the Escaflowne take off towards Asturia, which was the opposite direction from where she was. She silently thanked God that Van wasn't going to be in the castle when she arrived. She sure was a bloody mess. She had reached the end of the field and she was looking down the downhill that led to the gates. If she ran she was going to be there in no time at all. She stopped abruptly and watched the three guymelefs that were in front of her. There was a moment of silence where the only sound was the wind created by the machines. Suddenly she yelled an apology and sped towards Fanelia._

_Chesta, Gatti and Miguel knew better than to continue into the city without their leader, it was his, the privilege to destroy that city. If they accidentally destroyed something capturing the girl, even if it was Folken's order, they surely were going to be punished. They took one last glance at the girl running through the streets of Fanelia. _

_"Shit, master Dilandau and Lord Folken won't like this a little bit. Who knew Hitomi could run like this? No one on Gaea should be able to escape us barefoot and disarmed!" Miguel said through clenched teeth. _

_"Shut up Miguel, she's not from Gaea. And really, there's nothing we can do about her getting away, we'll just have to wait and see. We can just hope Master Dilandau is in a good mood." Gatti answered, knowing that such a thing was very improbable._

_"Haha, you know Gatti, when you want you can be funny." Chesta replied smiling sarcastically. _

_"Hope never dies does it?" Gatti replied with a tired smile. "Let's get moving; the others should be waiting for us some way back."_

_"Yes, the faster we get there the more likely our punishment will be less brutal." Miguel said as all of them turned towards the Vione and met up with the other Dragon Slayers._

Hitomi woke up early in the morning dripping with sweat. Lately she hadn't been able to sleep well because of her visions. During daytime they had suddenly stopped being so draining; in fact she could have a vision like the seers you saw on TV on Earth, who's eyes got all glassy and when the vision stopped they'd just start walking again. Yet, during the night they became worse as time passed. She didn't know why she had them. Most were just normal everyday moments; the only strange thing was that at times she was just talking to complete strangers. She would see places she didn't even know existed would just appear and stay there like a movie camera was stuck.

There was one vision she had at least once a week. It was the one she woke up to the more shocked. The same sight as the night before would appear and then all would start burning and in the middle of the fire stood a cloaked man or woman and holding a bloody sword. Then the rain would wash the fire away and on the ground she would see Sir Balgus' dead body. Which was very strange actually because he had died nearly a year ago.

Hitomi started shivering. This night's vision had been strange. She wondered whether it actually was a dream, for once. Why would the Dragon Brigade follow her around? Why would she know to whom each guymelef belonged? Why would Dilandau and Folken want her back on the Vione? As she sat on the bed thinking she couldn't help but feel frightened. The most eerie thing about the vision was her desire to actually _go back_. She decided that it was a loss of time just sitting there doing nothing so she decided to go jogging for a while. She sat up from her bed and went towards the closet. She took out a pair of black shorts, a red shirt she'd bought in Fanelia and her jogging shoes. She went in her bathroom and took a short shower before changing.

She watched her face in the mirror and couldn't help but notice how long her hair was after three years, it reached her mid-back so she had to braid it. Merle had been stunned when Hitomi had decided to let her hair grow, saying it was a pain having to dry it every time. It had actually been better. Hitomi liked long hair and now that she didn't have to sprint in competitions she could just keep them like this.

Walking out of the bathroom she noticed the twin daggers resting on her table and reached for them, caressing one of the blades with her fingers. Memories of when she had first asked Allen to teach her how to fight came back and she smiled as she had a happy vision of that day two years ago when she had met Allen.

_ One day in the training grounds she was watching as the Asturian knight Allen Chezar trained a part of Fanelia's soldiers. She watched them with a frown, asking herself why women in Gaea were not allowed to train. Huffing in annoyance she took a closer look at the wall of weapons. There were so many weapons of which she didn't even know the name. It was then she saw a pair of twin blades on the far right of the wall. She went towards them and laid a hand on the silver carved hilts. She took them down and didn't even notice when the soldiers went to shower and eat._

_One thing she did notice was when Allen Chezar approached her from behind. She turned around with the daggers still in hand, gripping them, "Chezar, I thought you were training the men." She said turning the daggers so that the blades were against her inner wrists. _

_"Lady Hitomi, it's a pleasure to have you here. As for your question, the men have just finished training. Yet, may I ask my Lady if she has ever handled twin blades before? It is a very interesting pick out dozens of weapons." Allen answered._

_"Yes you can, no need to ask. I've never handled any sort of weapon before, but lately I've been thinking seriously about it. I have this desire of learning to protect myself without help; but women aren't allowed to. It's so frustrating. And these gloves are too thin, I can feel the steel through them on my hands and I keep having visions of the last possessor and how he trained; it's driving me crazy." Hitomi answered back scowling even harder._

_Allen gently laughed and said, " Would my Lady mind me teaching her? You seem to have a natural talent." _

_"I would be really glad. Oh, and Chezar, you can simply call me Hitomi." She said smiling. _

_"And you may call me Allen. I am very sorry but now I have to go, King Van attends me in his study. Also I think you should be changing your gloves Lady Hitomi shouldn't you? Remember, we start in two days here at dawn. Speaking of which, please don't tell his majesty anything about your training, otherwise he will be angry." He replied looking at the girl's smiling face._

_"All right! Don't worry, I won't tell him. Plus you were really right about the glove thing." Hitomi replied as he nodded his head and headed for Van's part of the castle…_

A smile reached her lips as she recalled Van's expression the first time he'd caught Allen teaching her. Walking towards her window she grabbed her black gloves on the couch just under it and wore them. She Strapped her blades to her shins and wore her boots over them. She tied a sweater to her waist just in case she stayed out too long and the air turned chilly.

She walked out of her room and when she reached the kitchen she met King Van who was already having breakfast. _He always rose early._ she thought. "Hi Van." She said as she took two pieces of bread from a table. She and the King had become good friends after she had arrived. Back then he had been much less mature and she had still been a typical high school student. They always used to argue about just anything and fought whenever they had the occasion, but now, a year after Sir Balgus' death many thing had changed. _Especially the look in Van's eyes; at times, when he thinks no one's looking it's so sad and tired…_She mused with a sigh.

"Hello to you Hitomi. You're up early today, is something wrong?" He asked with a simple smile.

"Um, I couldn't sleep very well…but there's a good side to it. I can eat before Merle finishes everything." She replied smiling as well. Merle was Van's best friend. She also happened to be a cat-girl. In the real sense of the words, she also had a tail! Merle also had an appetite than could rival any living thing on both Gaea and Earth. Which usually meant Hitomi skipped breakfast.

"Don't be so harsh, she's not doing anything bad this time, at least for now." Van said with a chuckle. He could just imagine Merle playing some evil trick on Hitomi.

" I think you are right. So Van, tell me, how are things going in politics? Any news from Zaibach?" The girl inquired, she wanted to know where the next battle was going to be held so she could prepare. For the past year during battles she had accompanied Van's army and stayed on the shoulder of his guymelef, the Escaflowne, helping them with her powers which didn't consist in only seeing the past and the future, but in other talents, such as being able to transport all the army to safety in an instant using a column of blue light. Some people thought it was the devil's doing but she didn't care; at least she could help.

Van looked very concerned as he thought exactly how to tell Hitomi that one of Zaibach's most important sections was nearly in Fanelia. "Unfortunately there are. Yesterday Merle saw some of the Dragon Slayers camped just a few hours from Fanelia on the mountains. I don't even know how those guymelefs escaped our sight but they sure did a good job arriving here. Damn, I am so angry I am unableprotect my people when the danger is so near."

Hitomi looked down at her breakfast for one moment, thinking about all the dreams she'd had recently about the Dragon Slayers. Maybe they were visions of what was to come. That particular vision -she was now sure it was- where Sir Balgus died was so clear now; Sir Balgus' body was Fanelia's death and the flames were the buildings burning down. The clocked figure she was still unsure about, but she imagined it represented the slayers, the lone hunters of Zaibach. That instant she knew why only a few of them were here. They were coming for her. When she had helped Van win their last battle one of the generals had seen her use her power…there was no other possible explanation. As mad as they were, Zaibach always had a reason for what they did. She either she went willingly to Zaibach or they burned Fanelia to ashes to find her. She made her decision, the time to repay all her friends had come.

Faking a smile she comforted Van, "Don't worry Van, you are a wonderful king. You know Dilandau is one of Zaibach's winning cards in this war so it's not surprising they eluded our defense. Now we have to prepare and in a few days we attack them, surprise effect you know. Plus I already had a plan in mind in case this happened; but I'll tell you later at lunch so I can sort all the details in my head." She said this while she thought another thing entirely, _It's a plan that you wouldn't like, and it's not like you're going to hear it anyway. I'm so sorry Van._ She thought sadly.

Seeing her smile Van nearly thought they could make it and deciding to be a little more optimist her just nodded and changed the topic of their talk, "Are you going for a run Hitomi? Isn't it a bit early?" He asked.

"Yeah, but going out early gives my some time to jog and then go to the marketplace when it opens." Hitomi answered smiling, happy that they weren't talking about Zaibach anymore, "See you later Van." She then said heading for the door.

**_TBC…_**

So, here everything, I don't know how it is. My grammar isn't very good. I just have to say it every fic I write don't I? Apart from that this idea came to me one night two weeks ago and I started writing something down a week ago so I don't know…it looks weird, nut I decided to give it a chance. You judge what came out of my twisted mind. Lol, anyway next chapter should be up anytime so just keep an ear to hear a little ring ring. Looks like I'm really going nuts now…

_Thanks for reading,_

_ Kayrin_


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